What President Trump ought to deal with on transportation
If President Trump is concerned about claiming the mantle of “infrastructure president,” right here’s a listing of particular actions the president can take to make important enhancements to the federal transportation program.
As we’ve accomplished for previous presidents, we’ve put collectively a listing of particular actions that President Trump ought to tackle transportation in his remaining time period. Buckle up for this detailed checklist of 14 particular to-dos throughout 5 totally different areas:
- Lastly repair stuff
- Truly enhance security
- Streamline the method
- Rethink the (damaged) fashions
- Enhance transparency
As T4A director Beth Osborne wrote lately, the federal transportation program has been failing to ship for many years. Spending extra money has failed to enhance congestion, emissions, environment friendly entry to jobs and day by day wants, or cut back the variety of individuals struck and killed whereas strolling. President Trump may make a strong assertion by acknowledging that our present technique isn’t working and urging Congress to seaside this rudderless ship of a program that’s crusing off in no explicit path in any respect.
1) FINALLY FIX STUFF: President Trump will be the primary to lastly focus federal spending on fixing issues first
He ought to intention to have “the perfect” infrastructure reasonably than simply “essentially the most”
Unsurprisingly, the American public doesn’t know a lot concerning the federal transportation program. Most People don’t understand there’s no requirement to first restore present infrastructure earlier than constructing new property that require a long time upon a long time of recent, extra upkeep prices. Requiring states to restore issues first would seemingly have immense public help if Congress proposed it, but a bunch of supposedly fiscally conservative Senators misplaced their minds at USDOT merely suggesting that states take into account doing so.
In some unspecified time in the future, we should cease increasing a transportation community that’s already too massive to realistically keep, or go broke making an attempt. Restore Priorities confirmed that we’d want $231.4 billion per yr simply to maintain our present street community in a suitable state and convey the backlog of roads in poor situation into good restore over a six-year interval. But throughout all models of presidency, in 2015, we spent simply $105.4 billion on all freeway capital initiatives. The 1st step is to cease digging the outlet, particularly when the fuel tax, the first supply of federal funding, has solely been overlaying a fraction of checks that Congress has been writing since way back to 2008.
President Trump ought to step in and inform the freeloading members of Congress that the free lunch is over. Inform them their states can’t simply broaden their transportation system eternally with zero thought given to how their kids and grandchildren can pay for its repairs.
(A) Reward areas which are making enhancements within the situation of their roadways with aggressive grants and restrict the grantmaking for many who will not be.
Greater than $200 billion of the $643 billion within the IIJA went to aggressive grants, and each administration places its personal stamp on the initiatives they select to advance. Add in standards to reward those that are being the perfect stewards of the opposite federal {dollars} they’ve obtained. Those that are begging Congress for extra free taxpayer cash to broaden roads they’ll’t afford to keep up shouldn’t be rewarded with extra grant funding to do something.
(B) Earlier than offering funding for something new, require transportation companies to display they’ve funding for its upkeep and restore all through its helpful life.
That is one other undeniable fact that tends to shock individuals we’ve surveyed: companies don’t should show they’ll afford to keep up something they’re constructing. And so they can construct one thing new even when it is going to jeopardize their capacity to keep up issues they’ve already constructed. If you happen to or I are shopping for a home, we’ve to show to the financial institution that we’ve secure and ample revenue. However when your state DOT takes federal freeway formulation cash and decides to construct a brand new freeway with it, they don’t should show to anybody that they have the funds for to keep up it even for simply the subsequent 5 years, not to mention the subsequent 50. It’s time for that to alter. USDOT may institute a requirement like this tomorrow with many aggressive applications. For formulation applications, President Trump can inform Congress to institute this transformation within the alternative for the IIJA, which is due in September of subsequent yr.
(C) When infrastructure fails, whether or not by pure disasters or in any other case, require that or not it’s up to date for present wants.
When floods, fireplace, excessive warmth, or different adjustments in climate result in the lack of a street, bridge, transit line, or anything, transportation companies ought to take into account whether or not that asset must be changed, what must be accomplished to cut back the possibility of a repeat failure, and the way the design must be up to date to enhance priorities like security and connectivity. Increasing that asset ought to solely be thought-about if there’s a plan to keep up it, as mentioned above.
(2) ACTUALLY IMPROVE SAFETY: Cease paying lip service to security and get the U.S. off the underside of the rankings
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy got here in with a said curiosity in bettering security. It’s sorely wanted—the U.S. sits on the backside of the rankings of the developed world on visitors security. The numbers are much more dire for individuals strolling. Security is all the time described as a high precedence, although states face no penalties for accidents or fatalities growing on their roads. It’s time to place security above all else, penalize those that use federal {dollars} to make it worse, and reward those that are shifting issues in the fitting path.
(A) Reward enhancements in security.
Reward the cities, metro areas, and states with roadways which are getting safer with elevated entry to aggressive grants, and restrict the grantmaking for the locations that aren’t. Contemplate critical accidents along with deaths, and particularly consider the numbers for individuals strolling, biking, or getting round outdoors of automobiles.
(B) Make it clear that cities and states can and must be testing to see what security enhancements work in what circumstances, and fund them to take action.
The Secretary ought to write a memo making it clear that the steering within the Handbook on Uniform Visitors Management Gadgets (MUTCD) is rarely an excuse to face in the way in which of progress on security. If provisions within the MUTCD are resulting in dangerous security outcomes, states, and different companies mustn’t observe that steering and submit reviews to USDOT about provisions that make security worse. USDOT ought to take into account updating the information to raised prioritize security or, even higher, pare it again fully to solely cowl the design of indicators, markings and indicators. The MUTCD was by no means meant to manipulate avenue design.
(C) Cap automobile security scores at 4 stars for any automobiles that impede the motive force’s capacity to see in entrance of or round them.
Because the automobile fleet will get larger, taller, and heavier on common, individuals in older automobiles, and particularly individuals outdoors of any automobile, are extra in danger. Collisions that had been solely accidents 20 years in the past have gotten fatalities right this moment. The Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration and different related USDOT places of work ought to cease dragging their toes and replace the New Automobile Evaluation Program (NCAP) and the Federal Motor Car Security Requirements (FMVSS) on crashworthiness and crash avoidance techniques to account for individuals strolling and biking. That is one thing that’s already been proposed by the Nationwide Security Council. (Web page 42)
(3) STREAMLINE: Lower purple tape and pace up (good) initiatives
The President and Secretary Duffy are partially proper—good initiatives do take too lengthy. Whereas we’re additionally glad that horrible, harmful initiatives additionally take too lengthy, there’s completely some low-hanging fruit on the subject of bettering the method by which initiatives get deliberate, designed, and constructed. Listed below are three:
(1) Streamline the grant software course of for all USDOT grants in order that rural and lower-capacity companies can higher compete.
Whereas not simple for any unit of presidency to navigate, smaller and midsized cities face an uphill problem with the advanced technique of making use of for USDOT aggressive grants. USDOT may do two issues to enhance that course of: First, create a web based software and a easy plug-and-play benefit-cost evaluation (BCA) calculator in order that these locations don’t have to rent overpriced consultants. Second, cut back the paperwork and pace up the method for signing a grant settlement. What you may not know whenever you see that checklist launched of RAISE grant winners (or another grant program) is that it will probably take months to years to obtain any funding as a result of they’ve to barter a grant settlement with USDOT. Pace that up and simplify that course of.
(2) Be sure that challenge streamlining efforts persistently prolong to all modes, all areas, and all transportation companies.
One cause transit initiatives get constructed extra slowly (and at increased value) than freeway initiatives is as a result of Federal Highways (FHWA) district places of work and Federal Transit (FTA) regional places of work interpret most of the identical guidelines in another way. For instance, FHWA applies streamlining legal guidelines and rules way more liberally than FTA does. Environmental overview must be bypassed or abbreviated for extra initiatives which have clear advantages. And the state DOTs demanding streamlining adjustments from Congress or USDOT, who topic their native governments to arduous necessities after they subgrant cash to them, ought to cease. This course of disproportionately harms the smaller and rural areas this administration claims to prioritize as a result of these locations don’t have the funding to take over the challenge or the dimensions and clout to push again.
(3) Take away burdensome federal necessities to deliver down prices.
Freeway companies usually really feel stress from FHWA below present design requirements and challenge improvement protocols to do issues that enhance prices, like designing roadways with lanes which are unnecessarily large for streets the place decrease speeds are the objective or having to do a pricey visitors examine earlier than making commonsense enhancements like new crosswalks or indicators. FHWA claims that state and native companies have flexibility, however their expertise counters that declare.
(4) RECONSIDER THE MODELS: Cease losing cash primarily based on dangerous information and journey fashions
(A) Take down the Secretary’s worth of time memo.
Rescinding this single memo would have a major influence in a single day. USDOT’s enshrined steering on the “worth of time” results in an unlimited waste of federal cash, with billions going towards making an attempt to avoid wasting sure individuals a couple of seconds at a time, claiming that these seconds add as much as tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in financial profit. Slightly than explaining additional, simply watch our video:
We’ve had the know-how for years now to measure the precise time of journeys as an alternative of assuming that “barely quicker automobiles on street X = a greater system.” The time for inaccurate and deceptive proxies has lengthy handed. President Trump ought to direct Secretary Duffy to rescind this memo yesterday.
(B) Evaluate the accuracy of journey demand fashions.
Visitors fashions predicted unimaginable congestion with out widening The Katy Expressway in Houston. But even after widening it to 26 lanes in some locations, visitors bought worse, failing to ship on the projections from the flawed visitors fashions used to justify the billions spent on it. But those self same fashions shall be used once more and once more to justify different comparable initiatives. Businesses (or Congress) virtually by no means look again to guage if new initiatives delivered on the guarantees made or if the brand new actuality comes near the rosy projections. Like a climate forecast, we’re largely simply involved concerning the predictions for tomorrow and barely return 5 years to contemplate the accuracy of a previous forecast. USDOT ought to begin rigorously evaluating previous projections with precise outcomes, reporting their findings, and updating the fashions when there are discrepancies.
This near-comical graphic from the Frontier Group combines previous federal projections of future development in automobile miles traveled. The darkest line is actuality. Yearly the fashions continued to challenge mainly the identical development in miles traveled, despite the fact that each one continued to show false.
(5) IMPROVE TRANSPARENCY: Make it simpler for taxpayers to know the place their cash goes and what’s being completed
The straightforward reality is that it’s almost unattainable to get up-to-date information on the place transportation cash has been spent, and the circumstances and efficiency of the transportation system. In reality, when the IIJA expires in September 2026, we’ll simply have (an incomplete) image of the place the cash went throughout its predecessor (the FAST Act) from 2015-2021. Because of this the members of Congress who will resolve how a lot of your tax cash to spend money on transportation and learn how to make investments it, have virtually no concept about how nicely the cash has been spent for the final 3-4 years. Would you give your staff a elevate when you haven’t any concept in the event that they’ve accomplished job for the final yr? That is but one more reason why public religion within the federal program is extremely low.
(A) Require challenge sponsors to report on what their initiatives have completed.
Understanding the place and the way cash is being spent is barely a part of the query. The administration also needs to make it simpler for taxpayers to study what has been completed with the billions handed out to states and metro areas annually. USDOT ought to create a brand new requirement for challenge sponsors to submit easy reviews 5 years after completion to report on the efficiency of the challenge. Did the challenge ship all of the promised advantages? Did the promised congestion reduction materialize? Did the challenge accomplish its said objectives for bettering security? How does right this moment’s actuality match up with the lofty guarantees used to justify every challenge?
(B) Standardize transportation spending information format and availability for annual state/metro space spending.
The State Transportation Enchancment Program (STIP) is a four-year checklist of initiatives a state has dedicated to funding, planning, and constructing. Although these STIPS are meant to assist the general public perceive how and the place their tax {dollars} are going and maintain leaders accountable, good luck deciphering (and even discovering, in some instances) your state’s STIP. USDOT ought to standardize the format and availability of this information in order that the general public can simply perceive how their tax {dollars} are spent, evaluate spending throughout states and metropolitan planning organizations, and maintain their companies and elected leaders accountable.
(C) Require transparency concerning compensation in management positions, together with bonuses at Amtrak.
One option to fulfill Amtrak’s mission of dependable, high quality passenger rail service is by making certain that each greenback doable helps them enhance or broaden service. It’s not unreasonable to offer good compensation to good, motivated, and competent workers or executives, however wage and bonuses must be tied to serving passengers and justified by quantifiable, measurable leads to improved service and journey expertise. There also needs to be accounting for the entire variety of government workers, their salaries, and all bonuses.
Keep tuned! We’ll be checking in on these things now and again all through this administration and reporting again.
